Alarm-signal for elevators.



No. 732,737 PATENTED JULY 7, 1903.

v E. L. & G. HAIL.

ALARM SIGNAL FOR ELEVATORS.

AIPLIOATION mum JULY 30, 1902.

no IODEL.

'nTo. 732,737.

UNITED STATES Patented July 7, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

EDVARD L. HAIL AND GEORGE HAIL, OF PROVIDENCE RHODE ISLAND.

ALARM-SIGNAL FOR ELEVATORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 732,737, dated July 7, 1903.

Application filed July 30,1902.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, EDWARD L. HAIL and GEORGE HAIL,of Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Alarm Signals for Elevators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to alarm-signals for elevators employed for the carrying of freight, having for its object to provide certain improvements therein by means of which the mechanism is simplified and rendered more economic in maintenance than has heretofore been the case.

On the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents somewhat conventionally an ele- Vator-well equipped with the invention. Fig.

2 represents one of the switches which we employ. Fig. 3 represents a section through the same. Fig. at represents the movable member of the switch.

On the drawings the elevator-well is indicated at a and the floor of the landings at b, b, 6 b and 19 At each landing there is the usual door, through which access may be had to the elevator-well. The car is indicated at c and is controlled by the usual mechanism, which we have deemed unnecessary to illustrate. In the well there are located a series of electromagnetic bells or signals 0, 0, c and c ,each signal beinglocated between the floors of two adjacent landings, so that it will be audible to a person at either of said landings. The alarms are arranged in branch circuits d, d, 11 and d in multiple with a main circuit e, which includes an electric generator, such as a battery, (indicated conventionally at e.) Each of the branch circuits includes in addition to the signal two switches, the movable members of which are adapted to be actuated by the car, which is provided with a contact for this purpose. The two switches are located one immediately above the floor of one landing and the other immediately below the ceiling of the landing thereabove, there being a space between the upper switch of one branch circuit and the lower switch of the adjacent circuit through which the car may travel before either of the switches is actuated. This space is provided so that when the car is at rest substantially at a level with the landing the branch circuits will all be Serial No. 117,718. (No model.)

nuts g g may be screwed. Fulcrumed on a stud 9 there is a switch -lever 0r movable member g having in its hub teeth 9 adapted to engage supplemental teeth g onthe baseplate. The lever is adapted to move axially of the stud to permit it to swing thereabout, being held yieldingly against the teeth g by a spring 9 The teeth are so formed as to automatically position the member with respect to the contacts and to return it into position to be engaged by a contact h on the car after it has been thrust aside by said contact during the travel of the car. In each pair of switches-as, forinstance,'fforf f 'orf J -the insulated contacts are located in different positions, and therefore while in Fig. 3'the insulated contact g is shown as above that at g, yet in the other switch that is used in connection therewith in the same branch circuit the insulated contact 9 must be below that at g. In other words, their positions are simply reversed. In Fig. l the arms 9 of the switches f f are both in contact with the insulated contacts, so as to cause 7 the closing of the branch circuit cl through the alarm 0 Theinsulated contacts of each pair of switches, as g in switches f and f, are connected by a conductor 9 the other contacts being electrically connected with the switch members. By reason of this con struction and arrangement it is necessary that the switch members should both be in engagement with the insulated contacts, as shown atf and f in order to close the branch circuit in which they are located and cause the signal to sound.

The operation of the device is as follows: Assuming that the car starts from the position shown in Fig. 1 and travels downward, at the position shown the signal 0 is sounding; but as the car travels downward the contact It will engage the switch member g of the switch f and force it downward, so as to break the branch circuit d Should the car be stopped at this point, its floor would be substantially at a level with the floor of the landing b and no signal would be sounding. As the car continues downward, however, it moves the lever of the switch f into position to close the branch circuit d, the lever of the switch 10 f having been moved upwardly against the insulated contact when the car during the previous trip moved upward. Upon the closing of the circuit (1' the alarm or signal 0' immediately begins to sound and continues sounding during the time that the car moves from the landing 17 until the lever of switch f is operated to break the circuit. As the car travels downward all of the levers of the switches are moved downward, as indicated by the position of the levers above the car in Fig. 1, and as the car moves upward the levers are correspondingly moved upward, as shown by the switches below the car in the last-mentioned figure. It is obvious that the alarms cease sounding only when the floor of the car is substantially at a level with the floor of the landing and that should the car creep away from the landingfloor at any time'a switch will be thrown and a signal will sound to indicate to persons working near the well that the car had moved. The action of the switches and the sounding of the signal is entirely independent of any action of the controlling mechanism and depends solely upon the travel and location, of the car.

We do not herein claim the construction with an elevator-car, and a plurality of landings, of an electric circuit having therein a sounding device, and automatic means independent of the landing-doors for breaking the circuit when the car is opposite each of the landings and for closing said circuit as the car travels between the landings to give warning that the car is in motion, as it forms the subject-matter of our application, Serial No. 105,487, filed May 1, 1902.

Having thus explained the nature of the invention and described a way of constructing and using the same,although without attempting to set forth all of the modes of its use or all of the ways in which it may be made, we now declare that what we claim is 1. The combination of an elevator-car, a series of alarms at the landings, and means for sounding an alarm at the landings successively as the car moves up and down, said means including a series of independent or isolated branch circuits in the well, a contact on the car adapted to close said branch circuits successively as the car travels, asource of electrical supply connected with all of said alarms and said branch circuits, said branch circuits and said contact on the car being relatively arranged whereby the branch circuits are open and the alarms are silent only when the floor of the car is substantially at a level with the floor at a landing.

2. The combination of an elevator-car, a series of alarms at the landings, and means for sounding an alarm at the landings successively as the car moves up and down, said means comprising a single main circuit including a source of electrical supply, and a branch circuit at each landing having a single alarm therein, and a contact on the car adapted to close said branch circuits and cause the sounding of said alarms as the car travels past said landings both up and down, all independently of the car-controlling mechanism.

3. The combination of an elevator-car, a series of alarms at the landings, and means for sounding an alarm at the landings successively as the car moves up and down, said means comprising a single main circuit including a source of electrical supply, and a branch circuit at each landing having a single alarm for said landing, and a contact on the car adapted to close said branch circuit and cause the sounding of said alarm as the car travels past said landing both up and down, and to continue sounding as long as the said contact remains within the limit of said'branch circuit irrespective of Whether or not the car is moving.

In testimony whereof we have aflixed our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD L. HAIL. GEORGE HAIL. Witnesses:

HENRY A. GREENE, AUGUSTA ALLEN. 

